EVERY picture tells a story. Paying little attention to the torrential rain that soaked him, David Moyes stood in his technical area, face contorted with a scowl and arms tightly folded. This, quite clearly, was not the way he envisaged bringing in the New Year.

Some will say this was a bridge too far, that four games in nine days over the festive period proved to taxing on a small squad. Others will quibble that Everton – again – were denied two legitimate penalties.

But whatever way you choose to dress losing to Manchester City, the conclusion can only be that Everton - for the first time since playing at Portsmouth on December 8 – were not at the races yesterday.

Lethargic for the majority of this dire affair, summoning up a late rally did not entitle the Blues to a share of the spoils. The damage had been done in a chaotic spell early in the second period and much of it was self-inflicted.

How bitterly frustrating. From the great encouragement of performances at Reading and against Newcastle, from three consecutive clean sheets to this disappointment – few teams make you ride an emotional rollercoaster more than Everton.

As they pore over the wreckage of their third defeat in four visits to City’s palatial home, the disappointments of the playing and coaching staff will be exacerbated the more it sinks in that this contest was there for the taking.

Honest and hard working Manchester’s Blues might be, but it would take a generous stretch of the imagination to describe them as one of the Premiership’s more formidable units. Even their manager Stuart Pearce appreciates their limits.

So despite them winning back-to-back games against Sheffield United and West Ham United, City were not looked upon as a home banker yesterday by any means and that shone through during a first half that bordered on woeful.

It was during this periode that Everton could and should have turned the screw to keep the momentum ticking along nicely. With a bit more ambition and savvy, they could have wrapped things up before the break.

Maddeningly, that never happened and for all the possession Everton enjoyed, Nicky Weaver in City’s goal never had a save to make – the closest he came to being troubled was when a Joseph Yobo header sailed wide after 11 minutes.

Had referee Uriah Rennie spotted Richard Dunne manhandle Andrew Johnson to the floor in the area shortly after, it might have been different but there is not much point sounding like a broken record and going over old ground.

He is never going to get a penalty this season as everyone has given up appealing for them. Everton did appeal with justification for another in the second half, when Leon Osman was chopped down by Sylvain Distin, but again were denied.

“There is no doubt that Distin doesn’t get his foot to the ball and so in my mind that’s a penalty-kick,” Moyes complained. “At worst it should have been a corner. “The linesman is standing 15 yards away but he doesn’t give anything. I don’t like criticising but when it’s like that we have to accept it. But we are getting pretty fed up with it now.”

To identify those decisions as being the moments when the game slipped from Everton’s grasp, however, would be wrong. With Mikel Arteta surprisingly out of sorts, the orchestra was missing its conductor and much to the manager’s chagrin few wanted to pick up the baton.

How they were made to pay. The introduction of Georgios Samaras – Pearce candidly admitted afterwards he is just as likely to trip over his own feet than hoodwink a defender – should not have been the turning point but it was.

Within four minutes of the restart and Samaras having replaced the anonymous Bernado Corradi, Everton had conceded a soft goal to the Greek international and found themselves on the back foot, at a time when they should have been pressing on to take matters by the scruff of the neck.

“We had no problems in the first half apart one free-kick,” said a clearly exasperated Moyes. “But we came out in the second half and gave them the lead. Even at 1-0 I still felt we could score but we made it difficult by giving a second one away.”

If the first goal was bad, the second was even worse. Tim Howard has been outstanding this season but erred seriously for the first time here, charging out of his goal to flatten Darius Vassell, as the striker was being challenged by Joseph Yobo. There were no complaints about the penalty from which Samaras scored.

That Everton staged a late rally – Osman firing in from close range after good work by Phil Neville – was as much down to City panicking, as the visitors producing moments of outstanding quality. Throughout, there were too many off the pace.

James Beattie came in for Victor Anichebe but was shackled by Richard Dunne. Johnson got little joy out of Distin. Simon Davies had an afternoon to forget, while Osman was only on the periphery until he sprang to life in the final 20 minutes. For that reason, there can be no arguments about the end result.

Now, it’s a case of bouncing back in the best possible manner. Beating Newcastle last Saturday did not mean European qualification was guaranteed so this setback should not be a fatal blow to ambitions.

That said, there is now something hugely significant riding on this weekend’s FA Cup clash with Blackburn Rovers. Win and everything should continue to tick along nicely – losing doesn’t even bear thinking about. If Everton allow all their good work to unravel, Moyes won’t be the only one scowling at Goodison Park.